One

The latest release from Shooting Gallery features newcomer Jason Cairns as an ex-con reunited with his baseball-playing childhood chum Nick (brooding, handsome Kane Picoy). Jailed for helping his grandfather commit suicide, Charlie is determined to make good. Nick, who's been kicked out of the majors for decking a manager, offers his basement apartment in his parents' house and gets Charlie a part-time job hauling trash for the city. But as Charlie saves money, starts school, finds a girlfriend, and gets a life, Nick gets lazier and angrier. His father kicks him out, and Nick finds himself sponging off Charlie in his monkish flat. Meanwhile, a selfless, naive act performed in prison returns to disturb Charlie's newfound peace.

Writer/director Tony Barbieri's indie buddy flick is now familiar territory: two childhood pals discover, after years of living their separate lives, just how far apart they've grown. In other words, this is Everyslacker's life writ large on grainy stock with lots of cigarettes and industrial exterior shots. But whereas Chuck and Buck has a dreamy, myopic glitter, One wanders jerkily, aching for a solid script. Still, Cairns has a quirky intensity we should be seeing more of.

-- Peg Aloi